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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Sweatshop, in the Garment District

sweatshop, nyc Photo by myself around 7th Avenue and 37th Street, in the Garment District.

You'd think there weren't any sweatshops left the Garment District, but not so.

Buried on various floors of older high rise buildings are work rooms, filled with sewing machines and thread. There, samples are made for fashion designers for fittings and photoshoots.

One of my hobbies is sewing, and I was looking for a fabric store on Monday. Only I had wandered onto the wrong floor of the wrong building.

But for a split second after getting of the elevator, I looked through an open door. There was a treadle-operated sewing machine straight ahead (that black thing on the table) - a sewing machine run by a peddle that an operator pumps up and down with her foot.

Spools of different colored thread dangled precariously. A general mess. A fire waiting to happen. A step backwards in time.

Related posts: Tailor Made, in the Garment District, Over the Shoulder in the Garment District, and Fashionably Late.

7 comments:

Olivier said...

ta visite inopportune a donner une belle photo. bizarre que personne ne surveiller cette salle

s.c said...

Nice one Kitty

biebkriebels said...

Nice picture, I once used the pedal sewing machine when I was young. I had a friend who's mother made the most beautiful clothes with it and she made the needle moving very fast up and down.

Andy said...

Are sure you didn't go through a time warp? A scene like this is truly rare in North America.

Sarah C said...

As an avid seamstress I love this photo! It really is like a time warp to see such a site!

Banjo52 said...

This is a great shot. I have a feeling that I could explain why if I studied it longer, but I'll just say that I suspect there are patterns among and within all these details and colors. This mess has structure of some kind, and a better trained person than I could offer reasons.

Rose ~ from Oz said...

An incredible find you stumbled across Kitty.